Women say they dress for Women: Do you take photos for yourself?

[raid]

It always crosses my mind that I really enjoy looking at many of my photos. I believe that this is mainly due to the fact that they bring back to me fond memories. It could be an older photo of my daughters when they were 2 years old, or maybe a photo of my guide inside the Lower Antelope Canyon, which reminds me when I was taking risks to get images by being roped down a dark canyon by some Navajo Indian.

I hear on TV that "women dress for women and not for men", so my one $ question to you is "do you take photos mainly to show them to others or are the photos meant for your own eyes?".

As an example, I have been advised by a RFF member to have my family members model for me ("staged"), whereas I really only enjoy taking photos of them when they are not posing. It is a personal issue for me. Where do you stand on this issue?

 

[hipsterdufus]

I have found that very few people except me care about the pictures that I take. So, yes, I take pictures for myself.

 

[oftheherd]

I do a little of both. But mostly for myself. That is evidenced by how many of my photos are interesting to others. 😛

As to family, I too prefer natural photos. My family, a wife and two daughters, always prefer to be well made up and prepared. I think it is a female thing.

 

[burancap]

Both......

 

[daveleo]

I am definitely doing this for myself.
I take as many family snapshots as anyone else, but I don't think of that as "my photography".

 

[f16sunshine]

I take them for all of you lovely people!

 

[raid]

I recall when I traveled for the first time to the South West of the USA (Southern Utah, Arizona) to try to take photos "like those I have seen in some books", just to see if I was capable of taking such type of photos, and I felt weird doing it. I experimented with getting very close to plants with a wide angle lens, say, and I tried out selective focusing. It was like a game to me, and when I got back the slides, I was surprised that they looked quite good. Here, I was taking photos "for others".

At this stage, I was just trying things out that others have tried out. I kept on buying photography books, and I kept on reading about some photographers' techniques. Then I started taking photos the way I liked it.

 

[jsrockit]

I go out an photograph because I enjoy being out there... it relaxes me. That is for me. However, I'm a fan of photography and I'd hope to have an audience in the future. So, I have to admit that while I photograph exactly what I want to photograph and not what someone else wants, it would suck if no one ever looked at my photos as well.

 

[rover]

I have found that very few people except me care about the pictures that I take. So, yes, I take pictures for myself.

As happens so often, the first response exactly what I would have said.

 

[Rangefinderfreak]

Depending on what I am working on.. For 40 years I definitely photographed for other people (Fashion/advertising) Now strictly for ME ! O.K. Sometimes I do some record sleeve photography and then I am working on a completely different level, Hasselblads, strobes, choosen location etc, When I shoot for Myself, i do it with leicas, available light, B&W film and grain... terrible looking images that I still find interesting...

 

[noisycheese]

When I am photographing, I have no thought of what others might think of my images. I am totally focused on my subject; my mind is in some sort of photographically induced hyper-drive state. I am obsessed with capturing on film the essence of my subject. I am swallowed whole by the moment.

This is the only way I can describe it.

If others like my images, great. If not, it doesn't really matter to me. I have yet to make even one photograph that has been universally reviled and condemned.

A photographer cannot live or die based on the acknowledgement and endorsement of others. That path leads to but one destination: The death of your creativity and ultimately the death of your photography. Been there, done that, never again.

Follow the path of seeking the approval of others and your camera bag will end up forgotten in the bottom of your closet, gathering dust.

 

[lynnb]

If you're taking photos for money, then keeping the customer happy is priority #1.. but I assume you're talking about personal work. In which case, because you have to look inside yourself to produce your best work (at least, that's how I see it, YMMV), then pleasing one's self is most important. If people like your work that's a bonus.

Unless it's your wife looking at pictures you took of the children...

 

[ferider]

Anybody who shares pictures online also takes them to please others.

Taking a photo helps me remembering when I took the photo. But I like to share, to learn about others and improve.

Maybe somebody else's response to a photo will make me like my future photos better, i.e. improve the number of "keepers" ?

I found Marek's post very thoughtful, Raid. Not easy to write, and Marek is a great photographer, IMO.

 

[Spicy]

You should fix the poll so that it matches the title.

 

[Mackinaw]

Probably a bit of both. I've taken a mess of family portraits as of late (film and digital) and I'm always aware that the pictures are meant for the subjects, not for me. Still, I'm deciding what picture are "good" and what pictures are "bad." So the end result my friends are seeing is what I like.

Jim B.

 

[sevo]

Please others? Not any more than I want to teach, inform, amuse, irritate or annoy them...

 

[Ko.Fe.]

Where I'm women dress for women and men for men, I find it intertaning.
What I'm trying to stay away is to entertain public with my family album.
But I do post my daughters pictures once in a while here and where.

 

[stompyq]

women dress for women.. really? which fairy tale is that from

 

[KoNickon]

Usually it's just for me, though I like to get my wife's comments. And sometimes she'll see something and ask me to get a picture of it.

 

[f16sunshine]

Anybody who shares pictures online also takes them to please others.

Taking a photo helps me remembering when I took the photo. But I like to share, to learn about others and improve.

Maybe somebody else's response to a photo will make me like my future photos better, i.e. improve the number of "keepers" ?

I found Marek's post very thoughtful, Raid. Not easy to write, and Marek is a great photographer, IMO.

Fully agree.

I do some of what you could call "pro" photography. I also use cameras for my work.
Outside of that I take pictures for others plain and simple.
I choose the subjects and am not afraid of rejection.
As a vulnerability junky photography is the perfect medium.